The Bridgewater Inn, Sallins.

Paolo Tullio's Review

The bad news in the catering business is still with us: more closures, more examinerships, more receiverships. What we read about is Dublin based; what we're not reading about are the closures outside of the capital.

I try to spread my reviews about the country, and this week I was determined to eat in an area that included counties Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare. You'd be surprised how hard that was, once I'd discounted the places I've already reviewed. A lot of the places I wanted to try were open only at weekends, but others seem to have closed up completely. One place told me "we hope to be open again in a few months' time". Oh, perfect -- just in time for winter. Other places were 'booked out' -- this on a mid-week night. I have no doubt that's just another way of saying, 'we didn't have any bookings for tonight, so we're not opening'.

The green shoots of recovery seem as sparse at the moment as the green shoots in my garden. Currently, the majority of places open mid-week in the area I wanted seem confined to hotels and pubs, which aren't usually my first choice. Still, a little research pointed me to the Bridgewater Inn in Sallins, where it seemed the welcome was good and the food above average.

I persuaded my son, Rocco, to come with me. He was still in a state of high excitement following the success of his exhibition of paintings at Russborough House. As we drove westwards across the Wicklow Gap, the same road we'd taken to Russborough, we relived his success. These days, selling three- quarters of the paintings at the opening is quite an achievement.

We got to Sallins with the sun still shining and found the Bridgewater Inn just as its name suggests, near a bridge and close to the water -- in this case the Grand Canal. A half-dozen or so barges were moored there, some of them operating as houseboats. It's all very prettily maintained, and the banks are mown grass and tree lined.

We could have sat indoors, and the inside looked comfortable enough, but since it was a warm evening we chose to eat outside, where we took a table at a sheltered area designed for smokers. I'd heard that the service was friendly and good, but I have to say that our welcome was one of the best I've received. If only that were normal, this could really be the island of a thousand welcomes. As it is, it's rare enough that it's noticeable when you get it.

The menu is pretty much what you'd expect in a pub: nothing cheffy, nothing complicated -- just the sort of dishes that a passing traveller would be happy to have. Apart from the menu, there was a blackboard with the day's specials on it, and the tomato and basil soup caught my eye. I ordered that and Rocco ordered the prawns in filo pastry as a starter. Ever the carnivore, Rocco chose the 10oz sirloin steak for his main course and I had the Toulouse sausages and mash from the specials menu. There's a fairly basic wine list and from it Rocco ordered a glass of the house white at €5.25 and I had a glass of beer. Two large bottles of mineral water completed the drinks order.

The starters arrived and Rocco enjoyed his prawns -- they were big and juicy and the filo pastry shell that covered them was delicate. My soup took me by surprise; I was expecting a light, fresh, summery soup, but what I got was dark and strongly flavoured. It took me a while to deconstruct the tastes -- not an easy task -- but in the end I guessed this: a lot of celery, a lot of Worcester sauce and a hint of burnt tomato, probably from the bottom of the pot. The basil element turned out to be a drizzle of pesto on the top. All in all, an unsuccessful recipe.

The main courses arrived and Rocco's steak came topped with crisp and golden onion rings and cooked rare, exactly as he'd asked for. I got three large sausages on a bed of mash and a side salad that came with a little jar of olive oil for dressing it. Simple dishes, but presented fairly well.

It occurred to me that the chef must like deep, dark flavours, because the brown sauce or gravy that covered the sausages and mash had the same kind of intensity as my soup. I felt that as summertime fare, it was just too strongly flavoured, so I tried to eat my meal without the sauce. If you order this dish, make sure you're hungry; the three sausages and the mash turned out to be remarkably filling.

We hadn't the appetite for desserts, so we each had an espresso, which weren't very good. The Bridgewater Inn is a pleasant spot and what I'd heard about the service turned out to be right: it's exemplary.

It's the sort of place you might be glad to find if you were in the area and wanted something simple. The food is honest and unremarkable, but when you think about what used to pass for food in pubs not long ago, it's apparent that we've come a long way on the gastronomic road. Our bill came to €69.65.